Generally, the need to monitor, control, record and provide detailed records of the usage of a telephone system in a penal institution is well recognized. To prevent such institutions from incurring unaccountable telephone costs, the institutions must either restrict access to outbound telephone lines or employ an inmate call management system to charge the called party for the communication costs. Without constraints on an inmate's use of the telephone system, inmates may harass outside parties or individuals or other unwanted inmate activities. An inmate should generally be prevented from placing a telephone call to the prosecutor who prosecuted the inmate's case, the victim of the inmate's crime, or witnesses from the inmate's case. It is also desirable to prevent inmate use of penal institution call systems to perpetrate additional criminal activities such as fraud, illegal drug sales, and other criminal conspiracies.
To prevent a penal institution from incurring unaccountable phone costs and also to prevent improper use of the telephones in the institution, it is critical that an inmate call management system identify the specific parties that participate in the telephone calls. A penal institution should use a communication system that provides an accurate identification means for administrators to determine the individual responsible for each outbound telephone call, and anyone else in the facility or institution that may have participated in the phone call. The system should include a means for restricting access to particular inmates.
It is common practice in a penal institution to assign each inmate a personal identification number (PIN). When an inmate uses the telephone in the facility, the inmate typically must supply this PIN to gain access to the telephone system. This PIN is entered by pressing digits on the phone keypad. A less common alternative is the use of biometric devices to identify the inmate to the inmate call management system. These biometric devices may use voice print or finger print analysis to determine the identity of the caller. These devices and techniques have limited usefulness because they may be easily circumvented. One inmate may coerce another inmate to provide voice print, finger print, or their PIN so that they can make improper or unmonitored phone calls.
In view of the foregoing, there is a clear need for additional controls to identify the inmate party to a telephone conversation for the inmate call management system. The additional controls should support existing call management systems to provide positive identification of the inmate party and possibly other inmates that were a party to a telephone conversation.